If I Reset Pc Do I Have to Install Drivers Again

Question

Updated - January 25, 2020

i. The quick way

Earlier adding this PPA, please read the PPA's Description on their page which mentions important information about using information technology, which version is right for your Nvidia card and more. This is for desktop users who want the latest version of the driver or the final supported one for their card.

Using 18.04+ To install run the following command:

          sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa

This will automatically update the repositories and and then you can run the following line:

          sudo apt install nvidia-driver-440

If your desktop does not load afterward installing the corresponding driver, and then do the following:

          sudo nano /etc/gdm3/custom.conf

so remove the comment (# symbol) from the line that says

          # WaylandEnable=false

and relieve. Then reboot. If this still does not work, so delight disable Secure Boot since you might actually exist using UEFI.

2. Common questions regarding Nvidia

For Troubleshooting Nvidia Problems or Overclocking Settings please see this reply which covers:

What mutual bugs are solved by using the latest drivers?
My video card is non installing (Installation problems)
Tuning and Tweaking by Video card
Quick way of setting default screen resolution

Elevation questions asked about video cards discussed below:

Can I employ the latest commuter on an older version of Ubuntu?
Departure between video cards & drivers: Official Nvidia site, Ubuntu's Default, PPA & Nouveau?
What PPAs are recommended when using whatsoever video card?
How to know which commuter or bundle to install?
How to install a commuter?
Difference between Proprietary Drivers?
How to know if my video card is supported in Ubuntu?

2.1 Can I utilise the latest driver on an older version of Ubuntu?

Since 12.04+, video drivers are maintained and updated more often. Information technology is easier to handle and solve the problems that showed with older ones. Yous most likely won't need additional PPAs unless yous have the latest Nvidia menu.

2.ii Difference betwixt video cards & drivers: Official Nvidia site, Ubuntu'south Default, PPA & Nouveau

I recommend them in the following order according to problems found, how the "out of the box" experience feels to end users, how compatible they are, how easy it is to update, install or remove and how information technology will feel one time you have it set up:

Nvidia PPA - Neat Performance. It works out of the box for about cards by using the driver included in the PPA (Which are different for each generation of Nvidia cards.
Ubuntu Default Recommended Drivers - Ubuntu does an amazing job in figuring out which Nvidia driver you lot need depending on the menu you are using.
Nouveau - This is the open source implementation of the Nvidia driver. They also do an amazing job and although they are not on par with the official drivers or the ones in the PPA (Fifty-fifty more so with the latest Nvidia cards), the speed of evolution, the delivery, dedication and advancements that they do per calendar week, gives confident that this is in fact an selection to have and promote.
Official Nvidia Site - These are the official drivers (Same as the ones in the PPA), the key deviation is that they do not upgrade automatically and accept some issues when updating, uninstalling and installing (Very rare but it happens).

The differences tin can be summed in the following points:

Official Site

Offers the latest commuter
Installation is through the last
When an update appears you have to manually download the new package
It has more than bug than any other method (Peculiarly for Nvidia)

PPA Repositories

Offers the latest driver hours/days subsequently its official release
Installation is either through last or GUI
If you have a previously installed a driver it will update the packet automatically
When an update appears you volition be notified to update using the Update Director
It is more stable and tested than the official ones
It has less issues than using any other method (Less issues for all video cards)
It is the 1st recommended way for Nvidia Cards.

Default Ubuntu Drivers

For every new release the drivers go improve and better
Gets updated less frequently than a PPA
In most cases the drivers will work out of the box (Nouveau for Nvidia)
Not upwards to date when compared with the official site or a PPA
Information technology is by far, more than tested in Ubuntu than any other way (PPA or Official)
Easier to update

ii.four How to know which driver or packet to install?

Depending on how many video cards yous have and if they are integrated or not, the installation method and packages to install will change from the PPA mentioned in a higher place which is for Single Cards.

Reckoner with two video cards in hybrid way

Starting with Nvidia 319.xx, both Nvidia Optimus and the common PCIe drivers are integrated into one, so if you install the Nvidia-319 parcel or newer, y'all volition become the commuter for the Integrated Nvidia cards and also for the PCI ones.

There are two solutions possible for hybrid cards: The first one is a package called bumblebee, which is able to apply different configurations for different applications. To install information technology, run:

          sudo apt install bumblebee linux-headers-generic

The 2d one is an official NVIDIA package chosen nvidia-prime, which is automatically installed together with the nvidia-355 package. It is able to decide on which card to use at contour level, i.due east. when the user logs in. This decision is adjustable at NVIDIA X Server Settings Control Panel. Annotation that nvidia-prime number and bumblebee are incompatible: If bumblebee is installed and then nvidia-prime won't function correctly, and its options won't be shown at NVIDIA X Server Settings Control Console. Yous'll have to ane. remove bumblebee 2. reinstall nvidia-430 in social club to make it work once again.

After this, it is recommended to turn off the computer and then back on.

The following moving picture should be seen with nvidia-prime installed, just non necessarily when bumblebee is also installed.

Computers with a SLI setup

If yous have 2 or more than video cards in SLI fashion y'all can do the following:

For NVidia cards, when creating the Xorg.conf add the following to the line:

              sudo nvidia-xconfig --sli=On

Lastly, Ubuntu has a swell way of recommending which commuter to utilise depending on your video card and drivers available (This is why I also recommend calculation the PPAs first). Only type:

          ubuntu-drivers devices

It should testify you lot a list of driver packages bachelor for your hardware, including only not limited to the video card. If you lot wish to see which driver is recommended for your video card then but type the following:

          ubuntu-drivers devices | grep recommended

2.5 How to install a driver?

The method used will depend on how many video cards yous have and which blazon of video cards you are using. The post-obit are some of the ways of installing an Nvidia video card:

NVIDIA (old drivers that need the headers)

For Nvidia, many times you need to first install the header files of the kernel version you are using at that moment for the driver to install correctly. So yous would offset need to execute the following line:

          sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic

And and then install the package related to the commuter (nvidia* for Nvidia cards). In other cases you lot might demand to go a little further and install the sources and specific header files, for instance:

          sudo apt install linux-source linux-headers-3.v.0-xvi-generic

which installs the linux-source package and the specific header file bold you lot accept in this example the 3.v.0-16-generic kernel version.

To check which version you take at any given time type uname -r which should give you the specific kernel version in use.

For Nvidia, it depends on the video card and bundle needed for it, for the latest video cards and assuming yous added the PPA mentioned above, the terminal line would exist:

          sudo apt install nvidia-driver-440

The number at the end would change depending on how sometime your video carte du jour is or how new it is (Some versions available are 390, 410, 415 and 418).

For GeForce 10, xx and RTX series GPUs use nvidia-430
For GeForce viii and ix series GPUs use nvidia-340
For GeForce 6 and 7 serial GPUs use nvidia-304

The latest versions bring more fixes and correct issues related to graphics corruption, HDMI back up, thermal support and more for the latest Nvidia cards. Normally, updating the video drivers solves many issues.

Note that Fan Control and any other Nvidia features that are not found on the nvidia-settings app, are not Ubuntu related, merely Nvidia related. I would recommend, asking the Nvidia developers in the official Nvidia forum about features y'all may want to include (Fan Control, Overclocking features, etc...)

CUDA

For CUDA you tin follow this link Installing and testing CUDA in Ubuntu 14.04

Bumblebee

For Bumblebee (NVIDIA Optimus) y'all tin use the following PPA (Ubuntu 15.04+ users can optionally not do this since it is already included):

                      sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa  sudo apt-get update  sudo apt-become install bumblebee linux-headers-generic

2.6 Difference betwixt Proprietary Drivers?

Please visit Deviation between Additional Drivers (Nvidia) for more than information about Proprietary Drivers.

2.vii How to know if my video carte du jour is supported in Ubuntu?

Here are a couple of hints to know if your video bill of fare is supported in Ubuntu:

If the video card existed BEFORE the release of the Ubuntu version you are using, it has a 99% change it will be supported.
If the video card appeared less than 6 months Later on the release of the Ubuntu version you lot are using and you kept that Ubuntu version updated, then you have a pretty good chance it will be supported.
If yous added one of the PPAs I mentioned higher up then you accept a 99.99% gamble that information technology will be supported.
Checking the Nvidia Site or the PPA for support might yield a quicker answer, but in near 100% of all cases, your video card volition exist supported either by the open source driver or by the proprietary driver.
Using the latest Ubuntu version will too improve your chances of having your latest video carte supported.

In general, I get in a dominion of pollex that if you lot have the latest video carte or virtually one of the latest video cards, yous will need the latest drivers. So always install the latest drivers through the PPA or the Software Sources that come up with Ubuntu if you have the latest Nvidia card.

NOTE - Ubuntu might show in the Graphics pick in "About This Computer" the value Unknown. If this is happening, please install the mesa-utils packet.

This answer is oriented towards resolving mutual Nvidia bugs (Black screen, drivers non working in full general, low FPS, etc...)

What common bugs are solved by using the latest drivers?
My video menu is non installing (Installation problems)
Tuning and Tweaking by Video bill of fare
Quick way of setting default screen resolution

ii.7.i What common bugs are solved by using the latest drivers?

Common bugs shared past all video cards are:

Missing Unity launcher or panel
Missing options inside Nvidia Settings
Desktop does not appear (Black screen)
Top/Bottom of the screen are cut out
Video looks cutting into pieces
Higher Resolutions are not usable (Non found)
Video shows with VGA merely not with HDMI (And Vice Versa)
Append not working on Laptop when closing Lid
Fan speed makes a lot of noise or is always at full speed
Estrus Problems
nvidia-xconfig not creating xorg.conf correctly

If yous happen to accept any of this, it is a good idea to add one of the PPAs and update your video drivers to the latest they tin manage. In most all cases, the problem is solved later updating and rebooting. For these cases I also recommend using the Graphics Drivers PPA.

I also invite you to accept a expect at some of the related questions:

Which ATI/AMD, or Intel, or NVIDIA Graphics for Unity?

What is the right way to install proprietary ATI Catalyst Video Drivers (fglrx) straight from AMD?

How to correctly enable Desktop Cube in Unity 3D?

Enable HDMI audio for an Nvidia menu

How do I enable desktop visual furnishings?

NVIDIA drivers not working after upgrade. Why can I but come across terminal?

Desktop does not prove when I installed nvidia drivers!

Black screen on latest Nvidia/Ati Cards when starting LightDM/Ubuntu

HDMI/VGA connection cuts borders of screen or creates blurry text

/etc/X11/xorg.conf doesn't be?

Installing latest Nvidia from Xorg PPA gives black screen

Now some pointers I want to mention:

For NVIDIA Cards, information technology also helps to create the xorg.conf file using the nvidia-xconfig command line. Just get in the terminal to type the following and then reboot:
```
              sudo nvidia-xconfig                          
```
Know that if nvidia-xconfig throws 1 of the following errors yous nigh likely need to delete the existing xorg.conf file starting time before executing the nvidia-xconfig command over again:
- VALIDATION Mistake - It tin mention section missing, incorrect data in a section, not airtight sections or simply requiring at least 1 section to proceed.
- Alert - It tin can mention several errors in values regarding any parameter found in a section, for example not specifying explicitly a value for a parameter.
- FATAL SERVER ERROR - After running nvidia-xconfig you can get in minor cases a "no screens found" error which most probable ways that the recommendations mentioned above like installing the PPA were not practical commencement or a possible module is still working (Either the nouveau is loading or an nvidia commuter installed using the Nvidia driver bundle from the nvidia site.
- ERROR - You volition get an error similar to Unable to write to directory '/etc/X11' if you executed the nvidia-xconfig command without sudo. If the error persists via the nvidia-settings you lot need to delete the xorg.conf file first.
For all the cases where you need to delete the xorg.conf file, please make sure to backup any changes to did to it earlier deleting it.
Reinstalling the driver solves several issues. For example, if you are using the nvidia-graphics-drivers-355 commuter package, and then do the following to reinstall information technology:
```
              sudo apt-get install --reinstall nvidia-graphics-drivers-355                          
```

Reinstalling Xorg also helps in other cases:

Remove existing xorg using the post-obit command

                  sudo apt-get remove --purge xserver-xorg

Install xorg using the post-obit command

                  sudo apt-go install xserver-xorg

Reconfigure xorg using the post-obit command

                  sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

After this it is recommended to reinstall the video driver if y'all are using Nvidia or ATI equally mentioned above.

I accept to add that if you suffer from Black Screen afterward installing the Nvidia drivers from the PPA and rebooting (And you don't have a Hybrid Organization) then your problem might be the demand to remove the bumblebee package along with the bumblebee.conf file. Follow the steps provided in Installing latest Nvidia from Xorg PPA gives black screen for this or merely run the post-obit lines:

          sudo apt-get purge bumblebee primus    sudo rm -fr /etc/modprobe.d/bumblebee.conf sudo reboot

2.7.2 My video menu is not installing correctly (Installation issues)

Nigh installation issues related to ATI or Nvidia can exist solved by post-obit the steps provided in Tin can non install Nvidia driver but in brusk I can summarize that in the following steps bold y'all have one of the following issues:

Installed the official Nvidia drivers and have a problem updating or removing them
Screen looks wrong/corrupted
Unity does not load of fails to load
Can not access the GUI environs in no way

If you have installed the official Nvidia Drivers, follow all steps below after having started Ubuntu in Recovery Manner. If not, skip to step ii:

If yous installed the Nvidia driver from the Nvidia site or the ATI commuter from the official AMD site, then type the following on the terminal (In this instance assume you have the Ubuntu 64Bit with the 304.51 version of Nvidia):
```
              sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-304.51.run --uninstall                          
```
If yous have install whatever nvidia package like nvidia-electric current or nvidia-current-updates remove them. Aforementioned goes with ATI drivers. sudo apt-get remove nvidia-electric current for case.
ANY modify you did to blacklist the Nvidia/ATI driver for example or changes to any other files related to the Nvidia/ATI drivers should be reversed. This is only in case yous went alee and started editing similar crazy (Which happens I know ^^).
Delete or backup/move the xorg.conf file. You lot will not need this file right now.
After doing all the steps above then Reboot the PC and make sure it loads with Nouveau and non with whatever Nvidia drivers for Nvidia cases or with ATI drivers and not with fglrx for Ati/AMD cases.
If right now you KNOW you are running Unity with the Nouveau driver (Or ATI open source driver) or if you but happened to get a video error, or it only fails to correctly load LightDM, do non worry, all 3 options will finish the aforementioned way. When rebooting, in the GRUB card, select the "Recovery Mode". After the recovery mode shows y'all the recover options, choose the root option or the Failsafe X selection. In this modes and subsequently all previous steps accept been done, install the Nvidia/ATI driver using the PPA I mentioned above. E'er endeavor to install the latest driver if yous have a recent video card: sudo apt-get install nvidia-430 for Nvidia cards or sudo apt-get install fglrx for the latest Ati/AMD Cards. Remember there should not be anything installed before doing this in regards to Nvidia/ATI drivers (Except plainly the Nouveau drivers).
At present reboot and all should work.

NOTE - In Step 6, if information technology looks as though the PC is stuck loading just press CTRL+ALT+F1 to go to the TTY1 terminal and practice step 6 from at that place.

Other mutual installation issues involve resolution. Y'all can check and change the resolution via last in the following way:

Open up the terminal and type xrandr this volition show you all possible supported resolutions (This depends on your video card and monitor/idiot box). Take note on the order they appear listed. The outset line that shows the resolution is line ane, the side by side one is 2 and and so on for all resolutions supported. A value of 0 will reset the resolution to the default one after you actually set a resolution.
Blazon xrandr -southward 10 where X is the line number as mentioned higher up. So information technology would look something similar: xrandr -s 1.

Lastly for users that have reported not seeing the Unity Launcher/Panel after updating the Kernel and/or Nvidia version, the first thing to do is to check if the Unity Plugin is enabled. For this go to the Compiz Config Settings Managing director (Am assuming it is already installed) and go to the Unity Plugin. Cheque to see that the checkbox for information technology is activated. If non then activate this choice and follow the on-screen suggestions.

2.7.iii Tuning and tweaking my video card

For Nvidia Video Cards follow these steps:

In the terminal type: sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Discover the device section and add the post-obit line:

                              Option "Coolbits" "4"

information technology should expect something like this:

                      Section "Device"      Identifier     "Device0"      Driver         "nvidia"      VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"      Option         "Coolbits" "4"  EndSection

Now save and reboot. Y'all should now see (Depending on your video card model) a new option almost Fan Speed like this:

A brief explanation of CoolBits:

CoolBits enables various unsupported features, such as back up for GPU clock manipulation in the NV-CONTROL X extension. This selection accepts a fleck mask of features to enable. Which ways a value of 0, 1, 2 or iv.

CoolBits = i - When "one" (Bit 0) is set in the "Coolbits" choice value, the nvidia-settings utility will contain a page labeled "Clock Frequencies" through which clock settings can be manipulated. "Coolbits" is only bachelor on GeForce FX and Above.

CoolBits = ii - When "2" (Chip 1) is set information technology will attempt to initialize SLI when using GPUs with different amounts of video memory.

CoolBits = 4 - When "4" (Bit 2) is set up the Thermal Monitor page volition allow configuration of GPU fan speed, on graphics boards with programmable fan capability.

The default pick is 0 (unsupported features are disabled).

Every bit of Nvidia 337.XX the following options are available:

CoolBits = 8 - When "eight" (Bit 3) is set the PowerMizer folio in the nvidia-settings control console will brandish a table that allows setting per-clock domain and per-performance level offsets to apply to clock values. This is allowed on certain GeForce GPUs in the GeForce GTX 400 series and later on. Not all clock domains or functioning levels may be modified.

CoolBits = 12 - When "12" (Bit three + 2) this will exist the aforementioned as activating the furnishings of Coolbits viii + Coolbits iv. So y'all volition become the new overclocking features and fan control.

This options can also be activated by issuing the following command:

          nvidia-xconfig --absurd-bits=4

Alert: this may cause system damage and void warranties.

I besides want to add that the information for Proprietary drivers is typically saved in the dwelling house folder. For example, the information saved past nvidia-settings is stored in ~/.nvidia-settings-rc which you can access by typing the following:

          nano ~/.nvidia-settings-rc

I mention this because if the xorg.conf is not used, then how do the settings for ATI or Nvidia work? The reason is that X can automatically detect and configure many options of xorg.conf like input/output devices and Video cards. This did non happen automatically before, merely since 2010, 10 can handle many options and detect them without any issues or the need to configure a file for them.

Notation that, many of these are still present merely divided into more specific files in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/

For example, some video cards practice non show the Unity Launcher or top console unless xorg.conf is present. In other cases, users that want to tweak their video card, may need the Coolbits option which is added to xorg.conf. These are the reasons why nvidia-xconfig exists. To provide an additional level of back up in instance X does not detect or offer all the options for the video carte du jour.

Another trick is to run update-pciids so it updates the PCI Id List. On very rare cases, the ID is not institute or detected incorrectly for the video card (Actually any PCI device) then this will help solve whatever problem related to it.

In some cases it as well helps to alter the Texture Filter value to Fast in the OpenGL Plugin inside the Compiz Config Settings Manager.

Lastly, changing the Epitome Settings options to "High Performance" in the OpenGL Settings of the Nvidia Settings Console can aid in some cases.

ii.7.4 Quick way of setting default screen resolution

I have read and done some of the tips about using xrandr or editing the xorg.conf file, simply the quickest way that I constitute was literally editing the ~/.config/monitors.xml file and changing the resolution around lines 15 to 18 (The ones that mention Width, Height and Rate). So set the correct Width, Height and Rate and reboot to exam this. This is only to set the default resolution you wish to see once the computer starts.